


The aftermath of losing

by Vault_Emblem



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, Light Angst, M/M, Soft Raihan, Vacation, very very light at the start
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-21
Updated: 2019-12-21
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:35:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21885349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vault_Emblem/pseuds/Vault_Emblem
Summary: Leon has been sulking lately. Losing his title must sting.Luckily for him, Raihan has something in mind to cheer him up.
Relationships: Leon/Raihan
Comments: 7
Kudos: 137





	The aftermath of losing

**Author's Note:**

> It took me so long to finally write some pokémon fanfic, so I'm glad I got this commission!

It’s still hard for Raihan to believe that Leon has been defeated; he’s been the champion for so long, an impressive feat all in itself, and now, suddenly, he isn’t anymore.

Sure, it stings that he hasn’t been the one defeating him, but that kid trainer has talent and now Raihan has two rivals, which makes everything even more exciting.

He’ll still have to defeat Leon one day and he looks forward to that. Just because he isn’t the champion anymore it doesn’t mean that Raihan will go easy on him, or that he’ll stop challenging him.

If anything, the two now spend way more time together than they used to before, now that Leon has more free time to spare and hey, they may not be spending most of that time battling against each other, but things are still pretty exciting.

As much as Raihan doesn’t really remember a time in which Leon wasn’t champion, he also doesn’t remember a time in which his feelings towards him didn’t border on romantic.

What can he say? There is nobody else in Galar – and in the entire world – that lights his fire the way Leon does.

Sure it may not sound so good, being in love with your rival, but for them it works out pretty well. After all, even if they battle, it’s all done in good spirit; sure, it may be crushing for Raihan’s ego to lose so many times, but it gives him motivation, purpose.

Speaking of purpose, it seems that Leon still hasn’t found a new one.

It’s actually pretty sad seeing him hanging around like this, not knowing what do with himself. This isn’t the Leon Raihan’s come to know and love.

He remembers how he pretended that nothing was wrong soon after being defeated; he acted so well that even Raihan himself was fooled, and when he finally found him backstage, he was ready to tease him about it. Words died in his mouth however when Leon looked around and, after making sure that they were completely alone, broke down in front of him, years of expectations to meet that were finally catching up.

Raihan himself wasn’t a stranger to that kind of stress, but he knew better than to make things about himself now, when his partner clearly needed him.

He pulled him closer into a hug, letting him unwind the frustration while staying silent. It was unlike him being this quiet, and actually he had to fight the impulse to say anything, even small comments, but he was afraid that even his words of comfort would be misinterpreted: they always teased each other so much that he doubted he could speak to him without the usual jab directed towards him, but if he did now he’d just make things worse.

He made a mental note to cancel any appointments he had that night in order to take Leon out somewhere. It wasn’t going to heal completely the burn of defeat, but Raihan knew how good it felt to get something nice even after being defeated: how many times had Leon taken him to dinner after crushing his team after all? It was about time Raihan repaid the favor, even if the circumstances weren’t the ones he had pictured when he fantasized about this moment.

Indeed, taking him out helped him quite a bit.

Of course Raihan had to go his way to make sure that they’d get a private suite, not wanting waves of fans to remind Leon of his loss, and even just so that they could spend the evening alone and in peace.

Not that he didn’t enjoy the attention – he loved it in fact and always tried to draw it to himself – but there was a time and place for everything, and that day they needed to be alone – Leon needed it.

In the end, they spent a lovely dinner together – and they also ate so much that Raihan instructed his Rotom to remind him to do additional push-ups the following day to compensate.

When Leon finally spoke up again, and not in that meek voice from before, Raihan knew he was back.

“If this is how you feel every time, I would have let you win”.

Raihan burst into laughter at those words, and even Leon chuckled.

“Nah. You know I’d never forgive you if you do that”, he said, “I want to defeat you because I deserve it, not because you throw the match off”.

For the first time in all the years they’ve known each other, Raihan saw uncertainty in Leon’s eyes.

“You still want to defeat me? Even now?”, he asked before tearing his gaze away, “Haven’t I… disappointed you?”.

Ah, there it was the real problem.

“You’d never disappoint me”, Raihan replied, sliding his hand on the table to rest it over Leon’s, “I’ve been defeated by the kid too, I know what they’re capable of”.

He squeezed his hand.

“If anything, I’ll work even harder to defeat you, now that I know that you’re not invincible”.

When Leon looked up at him it was like all his confidence had come back. Raihan loved that gaze.

“Eh. I’d like to see you try”.

Leon is clearly restless, and as much as Raihan loves having matches with him, he still has to spare his energy for those who attempt his gym challenge.

It’s actually after one of their matches that Raihan gets an idea: he’s just taken another post-defeat selfie and he’s about to post it, when his Rotom shows him an add from one of those vacation companies…

You know, that actually doesn’t sound so bad, especially now that the gym closing ceremony is so close at hand.

He’d usually spend his vacation training in order to get stronger, but travelling somewhere with Leon sounds way better in his head. Yes, a vacation is what they both need.

He mentions it to Leon immediately.

“A… vacation?”, he asks, and from his voice he doesn’t sound entirely too convinced.

“Yes! I wouldn’t mind spending some time relaxing somewhere else, would you?”.

_I think you need it_ is what goes unsaid, but Leon is able to read between the lines. Oh well, if his partner is so worried about him that he’d go his way to propose a vacation of all things… who is he to say no?

Besides, he isn’t too against the idea of spending some time away from here.

He nods then.

“Actually, it doesn’t sound bad. Where do you want to go?”.

In the end, they’ve decided to visit Alola, something they’ve both wanted to do for a long time.

They’ve been there a couple of times but always while on duty, so they never got to enjoy the place like it’s supposed to be enjoyed, but this time things will be different.

Traveling on plane sure makes things faster, but it’s also very tiring, so much that all Raihan deigns the fans with is just a simple selfie taken after they land and nothing more.

Actually he has taken some other photos, because at some point Leon fell asleep and the small frown on his face was simply too adorable to resist, but those are for Raihan and Raihan only.

Yes, it’s weird that he doesn’t share everything, but even he knows that some things are best to keep private, and as much as he’d love gushing about Leon with anyone, it would draw too much attention to them, which would defeat the primary purpose of this vacation.

They spend the first morning sleeping in, as they were still extremely tired.

Leon’s the one who wakes up first, but he doesn’t have it in him to leave the warm bed, not when Raihan’s sleeping so peacefully that he’s afraid he might wake him up even by just moving around.

It took him some time to get used to seeing him like this; it took him some time to even get around the idea that yes, Raihan isn’t always fiery with passion. 

Not that it matters; he loves him either way.

He can’t help a fond smile as he looks at Raihan, resting on his chest as he closes his eyes again.

He can always use five more minutes of sleep.

They’re staying at Akala Island, and one of the first things they visit is the Wela Volcano Park, and how could they not?

People in Alola have a special relationship with nature, a symbiosis that can’t be divided, and Leon and Raihan try their best to emulate them to better enjoy the experience.

It changes everything: they feel part of the environment, as if they were born here and weren’t just some tourists from Galar.

There are so many pokémon that they haven’t seen in Galar. This is all so fascinating.

They even get to meet the trial captain of the place, Kiawe, who entertains them with a traditional dance with his Marowaks; Raihan wonders if he could learn to do it along with his dragon pokémon – Leon has his Charizard pose so why shouldn’t he have something cool to match?

He does try actually to emulate what Kiawe does, but he ends up ass on the ground with Leon that is laughing so loudly that he awakens the giant Salazzle that’s supposed to be the totem pokémon, but even in its bad mood it stands no chance against Leon and Raihan’s strength combined.

“Impressive”, Kiawe comments, with a passionate fire in his eyes, “You should undergo the island trials. I’d die to see you properly in action”.

“That sounds awesome… but it isn’t what we came here for”, Leon replies, but Raihan immediately speaks.

“Next time we’ll definitely do it”.

Indeed they had thought about undergoing the trials; it’s surely fun, and besides both of them are always down for a challenge, especially concerning trainers outside Galar, but a vacation is a vacation so they eventually decided against it.

Feels weird being idle for so long, but it isn’t a bad kind of weird. Also, as Raihan put it while they were discussing it, they can always count this as “scouting the territory” for next time, when they’ll actually participate in the challenges.

For their next location, they go to the beach, Heahea Beach to be more exact.

They’ve heard about something called Mantine Surf and damn if that sounds exciting. Of course they want to try it.

When they get there they immediately get instructed on how it works. It’s pretty simple: you just have to surf on a Mantine for the entirety of the course, nothing too hard – or so they believe.

The gear they have to wear is a bit ridiculous, but safety is important, so they suppose there’s nothing they can do about it. Still, Raihan doesn’t waste any time snatching a photo of Leon dressed like that – that’s always some good blackmail material.

Actually, before embarking in this new experience, he puts his arm around Leon’s shoulders, looking up with a smile on his face as Rotom snaps another picture of the two.

This one, however, he publishes, under the caption “In for a ride”. He then instructs Rotom to show the notifications later; he doesn’t want his phone to keep buzzing all the time for all the comments he’s sure he will receive.

And now he’s ready to surf… no, wait.

“Let’s race to the end”.

Leon gives him an exasperated eye-roll, but he’s smiling with confidence as he replies:

“It’s on”.

Now he’s truly ready to surf.

In the end, despite how many times he falls in the water, Raihan wins the race, but only because at some point Leon gets lost.

That guy… he’s so amazing at everything, but the moment his direction sense gets tested, rest assured he’s going to get lost. It’s infuriating but also endearing, and Raihan will never stop making fun of him for it; he’s so good at everything else that he deserves a bit of teasing.

“Damn, I wish that was a pokémon battle”, he mutters under his breath, but Leon catches it anyways and he smiles, cocky.

“You still have a long way ahead of you before you can beat me”.

“Ah! You know that I always love a challenge”, Raihan retorts, smirking as well.

“And now…”, he says looming over Leon, “Time for my prize!”.

Leon hates it when Raihan takes him by surprise like this, when he closes his arms around his waist and hoists him up in the air, but this doesn’t mean that Raihan will ever stop doing it; if anything, that’s an incentive, and no matter how many times Leon says that he cannot do that and that he’s not that tiny – which he is, actually – Raihan still keeps doing it, if anything because he finds Leon during these moments particularly adorable.

They kiss quickly, aware of the fact that they’re still out in public, and Raihan smirks against Leon’s lips.

Of course the feeling of Leon’s lips against his is a great prize, but what makes it better is its context, the fact that they’re on vacation together, a rare opportunity that they intend to take advantage of at the fullest.

They settle on the shore, their protective gear already given back.

As the day advances, people begin to leave the beach, but Leon and Raihan are still there, watching the sun go down as the warmth of the twilight begins to color the sky.

It’s all so quiet, so peaceful, and it’s then that Leon’s hit by a revelation: all this beauty in the world is still here because people work to keep it this way, to maintain nature intact, to protect people from catastrophes. They, as humans, have a duty to preserve all this.

He remembers about what happened with Eternatus, how close they got to losing it all. Nothing like that can happen again.

“I know what to do”.

Raihan, unaware of his internal monologue, turns towards him with a curious gaze.

“What?”.

When Leon looks at him, there’s determination in his eyes.

“I may not be champion anymore, but there is still so much to be done to protect Galar. I’ll make sure nothing bad happens again”.

“So…”, Raihan begins, smiling, “Are you going to become a secret agent?”.

Leon laughs, jokingly shoving his partner with his shoulder.

“Something like that”.

His gaze goes back to the spectacle in front of them. 

It’s strange: he feels so big and so minuscule at the same time. And he has Raihan to thank for all this.

Thinking about it, he should say it.

“Raihan… thank you for putting up with me. I recognize I wasn’t exactly myself lately”.

“Leon, that wasn’t a problem at all. I’d do it again one hundred times”, Raihan says before adding, this time more jokingly, “I’d still take a kiss as payment, though, if you’re feeling generous”.

Leon laughs are he throws himself at Raihan with enough momentum to make them both fall on the soft sand and they kiss, and they kiss again.

Things are going to be different from now on, but at least Leon has found a purpose.

Besides, the future doesn’t look so grim when he has Raihan by his side.

Actually, he can’t wait to see what happens next.


End file.
